Corrupt university with bad internationalisation
Pros
-The salary is good for northern Sweden —but bad for a place like Stockholm. —Most facilities are modern and the ICT equipment gets frequent updates. -Majority of admins are happy to help. -Umeå is a very nice city.
Cons
While the university claims to be international, most internal information is found only in Swedish. This is probably due to the fact that the majority of management—even in large multinational departments—tends to be Swedish only. On its own, it would not have been a problem if even pedagogical courses—needed to advance—were offered in English more than once per year with limited seats (the Swedish versions are offered at multiple times). Pedagogical material and teaching standards are low. This might be due to the fact that most in positions of power for education have spent *all* of their studies and academic careers at Umeå. What is considered the international norm, here it is often brushed off as all attempts to improve the curriculum and teaching processes do. This system is in a vicious circle as departments often open 'teaching' positions with Swedish as a requirement as means of justifying hiring local PhDs.
